


In Sickness...

by keelywolfe



Series: by any other name [33]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, M/M, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 11:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16554824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelywolfe/pseuds/keelywolfe
Summary: It’s difficult to handle when someone you love is sick. Edge does the best he can.





	In Sickness...

**Author's Note:**

> Had to expand on [this drabble.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16518341/chapters/38760821)

* * *

Edge knew something was wrong the moment he walked in the door. His coat was only half-off when he noticed Stretch sitting on the end of the sofa, watching the television with an oddly subdued air. He hung his coat in the closet before going over to him, wondering if he was simply having a bad day, and pressed a soft kiss to his skull. 

The near-scalding temperature against his teeth made him frown, and he switched to press his wrist against his forehead, wincing at the heat.

“Rus, are you all right?” Edge said, more than a little concerned. 

He shrugged vaguely. “i don’t feel very good.”

“You’re very warm. Come on.” He didn’t even attempt to pull him to his feet, scooping him up and carrying him to their bathroom.

He turned the shower to cool and helped Stretch peel off his clothes before stripping off his own. The first splash of water pulled a weak sound of protest and no more, and they stood beneath the cooling spray until Stretch’s bones no longer felt scalding.

Briskly, Edge dried them both off, bullying Stretch into a pair of pajamas and his robe. Not that he protested; he was still uncomfortably subdued, allowing Edge to help him dress and then lead him back downstairs whereas normally he would have been snappish if Edge even suggested such a thing. Stretch was something of a miserable patient but right now Edge would rather have his temper fraying from dealing with that than this awful quiet.

“Stay here, I’ll make some soup,” Edge told him as he settled Stretch on the sofa with a light blanket. When he returned with the bowl, Stretch only stirred it listlessly and a touch of his skull with the inside of his wrist again made Edge hiss at the renewed heat.

“Love,” he said softly, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think we need to go to the hospital.”

“Okay,” Stretch mumbled. 

That quiet agreement sent a chill up his spine and he was on his feet with a coat and boots on before Stretch was even off the sofa.

He took a moment as he was driving to call ahead, struggling to keep to the speed limit while casting a worried eye at Stretch curled up in the passenger seat. A pair of Monsters in green scrubs met them at the door with a wheelchair, whisking Stretch away while Edge parked the car.

Stretch was already in a room when Edge went upstairs, settled into a gurney and tucked beneath a sheet with a nurse standing next to him writing on a clipboard.

“All right, Papyrus, how long have you been feeling ill?” she asked.

“stretch is fine,” he smiled weakly, “papyrus is sort of my ‘brother from another mother’ kinda guy. i’ve been feeling off since yesterday, i guess.”

Yesterday? He’d been feeling ill yesterday and Edge hadn’t even noticed. If he had, would they be here now? If he’d kept him warmer, kept him in bed, stayed home today, would they—

The nurse interrupted his spiraling thoughts, setting aside her clipboard with a quiet clack. “All right, the doctor wants to get an IV started while we run some tests. Do you want Edge here or do you want to send him out while I summon your soul?”

“he needs to leave,” Stretch said immediately.

Edge blinked, a twinge of inexplicable hurt rising in his own soul. Yes, it was deeply intimate, but he’d seen Stretch's soul before a couple of times. They were married, why wouldn’t he want Edge to see—

“stop looking like i stepped on your puppy,” Stretch grumbled, “i don’t care if you see my soul, but i hate needles and i don’t want you to kill diane here if she hurts me.”

The nurse, Diane, didn’t look particularly worried about her possible imminent demise. “If you want him here…”

Stretch shook his head. “trust me. you don’t. hit bricks, edgelord, give us five.”

He nodded curtly and stepped out into the hallway. The corridor was quiet, only the soft sound of typing and footsteps from farther away. A moment passed, two, and from within the room he could hear Stretch cry out softly, then louder, tearfully. The nurse’s voice was nothing more than a low, soothing murmur.

He didn’t move, breathing deeply until the crimson skirting his vision eased.

“Edge, you can come back in,” Diane called, and he did, hesitating inside the door. The nurse had retrieved her clipboard and was writing, a couple of glowing vials in her other hand. Edge hardly noticed her, not with the way Stretch was sitting there with tears still sliding from his sockets.

Stretch wiped them away on his sleeve, sniffling. “calm down, i’m fine.”

“I’m perfectly calm,” Edge said automatically. He refocused his gaze on the IV bag that hung from a pole, its slender tubes winding down the front of Stretch’s shirt.

“yeah? then why do you look like a sparkler on the fourth of july?”

The nurse made a soft sound of stifled amusement while Edge tried to draw his magic back in a little tighter. “I’m going to get these to the labs for some test, all right? I’ll be back soon.” Her soft-soled shoes were quiet as she walked around them to pull the curtain around the bed before leaving.

The flush of heat in his cheekbones was mottled and unhealthy but Stretch smiled at Edge when he pulled up a chair. “well, that sucked. still wanna see it?”

“Yes,” he admitted. He did. He wanted to see it whole and healthy, proof that Stretch was all right.

Stretch smiled faintly and tugged up his pajama shirt.

Soft silver light shone inside his ribcage. His soul was the very essence of who he was, beautiful beyond words and right now it was pierced with an ugly needle. There was discoloration around the metal tip, the glowing liquid dripping into it. 

He reached out unthinkingly and drew back before he touched. Souls were excruciatingly private, he couldn’t assume—

Stretch took his hand and set it lightly over his ribcage so he could feel the sickly warmth. “there’s no part of me you can’t touch, okay?” he said, simply

“You would say that now when there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Stretch chuckled weakly. “sorry. make it a promise for another day.”

“Knock, knock,” Diane leaned in the door and the sight of another Monster in green scrubs at her heels made Edge hastily tug Stretch’s shirt back down. “This is Clancy, one of our technicians. We’re going to take a little trip downstairs and run a few tests, all right?”

The two of them lifted the rails on the gurney and Diane stepped on a little pedal brake. They began wheeling Stretch out, pausing as Edge trailed behind him, “Edge, you’ll need to wait here,” Diane told him. “We’ll bring him right back.”

“No,” Edge frowned, “I’m going with you.”

“Just stay here, this won’t take long,” the technician said placatingly and it raked across his nerves.

“I am not—“

“edge!” Stretch snapped. “i want to get this over with, please!” His eye lights were pleading, that unhealthy flush creeping up from his cheekbones to his skull. 

“I…of course.” He subsided, trying not to cringe, “I was only…”

“i know you were only,” Stretch gave him a tired smile. “it’ll be okay.”

“I’ll take good care of him,” the technician said brightly. 

“We will,” Diane said, a little gentler. 

They started out the door again only for the technician to pause. “Oh, hang on, I almost forgot, no metal. Why don’t you let Edge hold your ring?”

Stretch took it off slowly, looking more discomfited by that than he had the notion of the IV. He hadn’t been without a ring of some sort since their wedding. His fingers were trembling a little as he handed it to Edge, who could only stand there and watch as they wheeled him out the door. 

Edge sat down after they left, a little lost with nothing to do but wait for them to return. The ring was still warm to the touch; Stretch had slimmer fingers than him, his ring was too small for his third finger and too large for his pinkie. He held it instead, reluctant to put it in his pocket. 

He should call Blue, that’s what he should do. He’d want to know his brother was ill…except they didn’t know anything yet, he should wait, there was no point in Blue coming down until they knew more…except he might be upset that Edge didn’t contact him right away, he should…

In the end, he did nothing, only sat and waited until the gurney returned, pushed carefully into the room by Clancy. His soul lurched to see Stretch curled up beneath the blanket, looking small and drawn, his sockets closed.

“He’s only asleep,” the technician told him quietly, “you should let him rest.”

He barely managed to bite back a snarl that of course he was going to let him fucking rest. Instead, he only drew the blanket up a little closer around Stretch’s shoulders. 

His sleep was fitful, twitching and occasional wheezing breaths that had Edge on his feet, waiting until they eased, but what could he do if they didn’t? Aside from calling for help, there was nothing he could do but sit uselessly, waiting. 

A soft knock on the door made him jerk, looking to see a Monster in a white coat leaning into the room. She gestured for him to follow her and warily, he did, stepping out into the hall. 

“Hello, Edge, I’m Doctor Hailey,” she told him softly. “Let’s let him sleep, shall we, and we can go over a few test results.”

Edge could only nod silently; he felt like words were caught in his throat, refusing to be spoken, refusing to let him beg her for reassurance, for answers, for anything.

“I believe he’s going to be fine,” she said, and Edge could hear the carefulness in her voice. ‘She believed’ was not ‘she knew’, her only reassurance came with a caveat. “It’s an infection, we know that much. He doesn’t have the resistance a high HP Monster would have, but there’s nothing wrong with his soul and he has plenty of magic. I’d like to keep him here just because of his HP, but what he really needs is rest and time to fight it off. We’ll continue to provide IV support, just in case.”

Such careful phrasing, Edge thought tiredly. _We believe, we know that much, just in case._ He was very good at reading between the lines and didn’t care for what it was telling him.

The doctor gave him a stern look. “Now, I want you to listen because I can’t stop you from worrying, but I do want you to remember. He’s going to get worse before he starts getting better. I know this is frightening, but remember we’re monitoring him, and his soul is very strong. He’s going to be fine.”

“Thank you,” Edge said quietly. 

_He’s going to be fine._

He wanted to believe, he wanted so much to believe. And he would when Stretch opened his sockets again. 

The doctor gave him a gentle pat on the arm and Edge returned to the too-quiet room to watch Stretch sleep. It was hours later when he realized still holding Stretch’s ring, but both his hands were buried beneath the blankets. Edge smoothed his fingers over the metal, a perfect match to his own, and waited. 

Eventually, he texted Blue, answered all his demanding questions, got him to reluctantly agree that it was better to allow Stretch to sleep and that he would visit when his brother woke. Throughout the night, Stretch slept restlessly, occasionally waking and looking at him with hazy, fever-bright eye lights that slipped closed again before Edge could even reassure him. Nurses came and went, checking the IV, writing things on their clipboards. One brought him a drink and a sandwich that sat untouched on the side table while Edge watched Stretch sleep. 

Red came and sat with him in the second day for a few hours and he basked guiltily in his brother’s silent support, snatching brief moments of rest, occasionally sparing a moment to reply to texts that demanded updates and tried to offer reassurance. 

He didn’t remember falling asleep again but when he woke, Stretch was looking at him, his eye lights lucid for the first time in two days. 

“hey,” Stretch whispered. His voice was weak and husky, “you look like shit.”

“So do you,” Edge said. A faint prickle ached in his sockets and he blinked it away. 

Stretch tutted sadly, batting feebly at Edge’s arm. “that’s not nice. you’re supposed to say i’m gorgeous, radiant, beyond compare.”

“You are all those things,” Edge caught his hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, “And you still look like shit.”

He laughed weakly. “think i can get some water?”

There was a styrofoam cup with a bendy straw on the side table and Edge held it as Stretch took a few sips and settled back with a sigh. “seriously, babe, you look rough. have you had any sleep at all?

“Yes.” It was not a lie, he told himself. Minutes counted.

From Stretch’s skeptical look, he was less than convinced. “c’mere.”

Edge stood and Stretch’s eye lights dropped to his hand, blinking hazily.

“oh, hey, give me that.” Stretch reached out weakly and Edge realized he was still wearing Stretch’s ring, settled just above his knuckle near his own. 

Carefully, Edge slid the ring back on Stretch’s finger, the same as he had not that long ago. Then he sat on the side of the bed and let Stretch tug him down, rested his head against Stretch’s ribcage to listen to the gentleness of his breath and the steady, strong pulse of his soul. 

-finis-

**Author's Note:**

> Cheapbourbon did an art for this and it is heartbreakingly lovely. [you can see it here](http://cheapbourbon.tumblr.com/post/179882501679/fic-in-sickness)


End file.
